Verdict on Aafia’s plea reserved

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday reserved its verdict on a petition filed against release of $2 million to three American lawyers for defending Dr Aafia Siddiqui in United States courts.

Aafia’s counsel Iqbal Jafree had challenged the allocation of funds by the government of Pakistan for pleading her case in the United States expressing the fear that the money would go into the pockets of some people without achieving any purpose. He was of the view that allocation of the hefty amount for payment of fee to the American lawyers showed that the government was not serious in pursuing her case.

The malafide intentions of the government were clear from the fact that it had not bothered to spend a negligible amount of writing a letter to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

He prayed to the court to restrain the government from payment of fee to the lawyers and use it for pursuing the case in the ICJ instead.

He prayed to the court to initiate contempt proceedings against the ministries of interior and foreign affairs on being informed that the fee had already been paid to the American lawyers.

The law officer, however, informed the court that the government had released $1.5 million before the court orders.
Source: Dawn
Date:9/1/2009